May 21, 2012

Return to the Creamery


Acrylic on Panel - 8 x 10 inches - Click Here to Bid

I had the distinct honor to attend another workshop with Tim Horn. It's been a few years, and I couldn't wait to ask all the questions I'd accumulated in that time. Well, at least some of them.

We were at Moore Ranch in Nicasio again, though it was a lot windier than last time. Cold foggy mornings replaced by warm, sunny afternoons.

Tim did a demo each day, and shared a few things that were new to him as well. I don't remember what his palette was like on my first visit, but he was using a limited 7 color palette this time. Not really limited, but more specifically what he called "chromatic":
Cool yellow (or lemon yellow)
Warm Yellow (Cadmium)
Cadmium Orange
Alizarin Crimson
Ultramarine Blue
Cobalt Blue
Sap Green
White

In almost every book I've read, and every other workshop I've attended, everyone's palette starts with Burnt Umber. Not Tim's. It was quite an adjustment having to mix all my browns from scratch. Oh, and  with no black, I had to make my own "darkest darks" and warm, cool, and neutral grays. I don't usually use black either, so this was fine.

The biggest thing I took away from this workshop was just how much orange you can put into the green to warm things up and still have it look very green and natural. If you compare my paintings from this trip to some on Tim's website, you'll see I have a long way to fully implement this new knowledge, but it sure did amaze me every day I was there.


3 comments:

Chartan said...

really nice, the pallet is fresh

J.Farnsworth said...

Yeah, I'm finding it a new challenge each time, but getting used to it. Thanks, g

Marla said...

OK, this is really interesting to me, because I'm always mixing my greens with cad yellow light or yellow ochre and I don't like the way they look. I'm going to try orange.